Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-01-13
TRAINING FERRETS.
Harmless Little Animals Which Are
Thrown in Rage When Smelling
Blood.

Harmless Little Animals Which Are
Thrown in Rage When Smelling
Blood.
s.Ferrets are harmless and innocent
looking little things said an aged
ferret handler to a reporter recently,
but unless you know how to handle
them you will soon find out they are
not so innocent as they look. AL
though not particularly affectionate, a
ferret, if properly taken hold of, can
not bite. Always remember this, do
not 90 grabbing and snatching at one,
half intending to take hold of him and
half afraid that he will turn his head
and take hold of you. Stoop down
and quickly and easily seize him just
between the forelegs, bring your hand
down toward that part from behind;
that is to say, do not put your hand
down over his head and take hold, but
take mean advantage and approach
him from the rear. In short time
you will be able to pick him up any
way and yet seldom or never get Bit
ten. Fear of consequence is every
thing. As a rule, ferret bites are
caused either by the hand being rough
ly or suddenly put down, or timidly
ierked away as the ferret turns round
l was bitten but once, and that
was when / kept my ferret in a barrel
with sieve over the top, as was the
custom several years ago. was put
ting down the dish containing their
bread and milk and one of them seized
me by the fore-fnger on my left hand.
The severity of their bite may be esti-
mated when [ say that it is nearly
twenty years since l was bitten and the
scar is as plain as ever. Since then
have handled a great number. and even
carried them loose in the pocket of my
coat and have never had the perform
ance repeated Until you are thor
oughlv at home with them it is advisa-
bic to be very careful not to handle any
game and so get blood on your hands.
A ferret can smell blood wonderfully
quick, and in that case, on being
picked up, will fight and struggle to
find out where it is
"How do YOU feed them?''
cit is a good plan when feeding
young ferrets to adopt the method en-
ployed by the Belgian pigeon-hyers,
that is, to utter a shrill call each time
you feed them, making the call first
and then placing the food before them.
They will soon begin to recognize it
and will answer. This will often be
serviceable when a ferret sulks in
an earth. As soon as they become
we'll used to the hand, take them with
their jill-a female ferret-to some
outlying earth one not likely to be COM
plicated in its runs, or. better still,
make a simple run and put a rabbit to
it. Place a net over the earth and also
the bolt, previously turning in the Jill
with her young ones. When the jill
goes down the earth the young ones
naturally follow, and among them they
bolt the rabbit. if the earth contains
one. When bolted it is, of course,
caught in the net, and, having been
killed, it should be allowed to remain
in earth until the young ones come up,
when they should be allowed TO taste
the carcass and then taken of. 4 few
lessons like this will make a wonderful
difference in the working of your young
ferrets. For my own part l never
muzzle ferret, neither do | work it in
cord or with bells, or any of the thou
sand and one devices advocated. / do
not mean to say ferret is better nn-
muzzled, but the difficulty is to find an
effectual one. The best one, / think,
is a round, fiat ring that fits over the
nose and has Il bar that crosses its
center, screwing IN at both sides.
When on the ferret this bar passes just
behind the canine teeth, and this has
generally answered better than any
others l have tried, but even this comes
off, especially on an old ferret.-N T.
Mail and Cypress